Climate satellite flops after launch, says NASA
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AFP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 25, 2009 00:00
WASHINGTON - The launch of a satellite to monitor global carbon dioxide emissions flopped within minutes of liftoff from a California airbase yesterday after the module failed to separate from the rocket, NASA said.
"It appears that there were problems separating" and the satellite "did not achieve orbit," said NASA TV announcer George Diller.
"We are still evaluating the status of the location and the exact state" of the spacecraft, Diller said. "We have not had a successful launch tonight," he said.
It was unclear exactly why the mission failed, NASA said. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a Taurus XL rocket, at 1:55 am (0951 GMT), live images on NASA TV showed. It was the first time NASA has used a Taurus rocket, built by Orbital Science, the U.S. space agency said in a statement posted Monday on its Web site. "The liftoff was smooth," Jet Propulsion Laboratory spokesman Alan Buis told AFP. "It was pretty far along in the ascent" over the Pacific Ocean when the "contingency" was declared, Buis said.
"We are still evaluating the status of the location and the exact state" of the spacecraft, Diller said. "We have not had a successful launch tonight," he said.
It was unclear exactly why the mission failed, NASA said. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a Taurus XL rocket, at 1:55 am (0951 GMT), live images on NASA TV showed. It was the first time NASA has used a Taurus rocket, built by Orbital Science, the U.S. space agency said in a statement posted Monday on its Web site. "The liftoff was smooth," Jet Propulsion Laboratory spokesman Alan Buis told AFP. "It was pretty far along in the ascent" over the Pacific Ocean when the "contingency" was declared, Buis said.